Furniture components may be interconnected to form an article of furniture, such as a chair or a table. Typically, systems are not provided for creating or forming furniture such as office furniture. Nor are mechanisms commonly used for providing a common mechanism for fastening different furniture together to form office work spaces.
For example, if an office is set up to include a set of cubicles. A paneling system is often used to create barriers between office spaces. Separate table components or desk components are often positioned in each defined office space. Such desks or tables are often separate from the panels used to define the office spaces. Cabling may be provided via a cabling system or wire management system attached to the panels or provided with the panels. Often, many of the articles of furniture used in an office space are separately positioned within that space and separate from other articles of furniture. To the extent any articles are interconnected, they are usually interconnected using screws or bolts that directly attached articles of furniture together. For instance, a panel portion may be fastened to a desk top by a clamp and/or screws.
A furniture system that utilizes a furniture component fastening mechanism for interconnecting different articles of furniture together may be appreciated from WIPO Publication No. WO/2007/118864. That publication discloses a furniture system that utilizes furniture components configured to provide a groove having a particular profile for receiving a fastening device and a fastening device configured to interconnect different furniture components by mating with those profiles. The fastening component may be provided as a portion of an article of furniture, such as a drawer, desk, or paper holder. The fastening mechanism may alternatively be a clip mechanism for interconnecting different furniture components by being interconnected to the profiled grooves on each component. Such a furniture system and fastening mechanism may provide a quick connection and allow an installer to quickly build or reposition cubicles or office space. However, the reliance on the mating grooves being defined along edges of different articles of furniture and fastening devices that utilize a mating component that matingly connects to that groove. Such a design requirement can provide some limitations to furniture system designs or office space designs that utilize such a system.
Other furniture may include a support assembly for a work surface that is securable to a gable. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 7,694,924 discloses a support assembly that may support a work surface. The support assembly may include a horizontal support with a cross-sectional shape and a saddle support that supports the work surface. Such a system may be used to assemble tables utilizing a relatively small number of fasteners. However, such a fastening device is only utilized for supporting table tops, or work surfaces.
A new furniture system and fastening mechanism that may be used in such a system is needed. Such a system preferably permits a relatively quick installation or fabrication of cubicles or work space for offices, rooms or other locations. Such a system and fastening mechanism may also preferably permit a wide array of connection possibilities for interconnecting a wide variety of articles of furniture.